Deuteronomy 8:1-20
Wandering the Desert
1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.
Matthew 4:1-11
Jesus in the Wilderness
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
God had the Hebrew people wander the desert from Egypt to Israel for forty years...God took His people from Egypt and to the Promised Land and tested them...And God sent Jesus out to the wilderness to test Him and Jesus learned that man does not live on bread alone but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God...Jesus did not put His Father to any tests during His trials, and He knew that He should worship and serve Only Him...And in these tests of those in the wilderness were learning and humbling experiences...
Moses wrote to God's people about their wanderings in the desert...The people for forty years had to trust in God and His Word, in their wilderness experience...Moses wrote, "Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands...He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD...Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years...Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you."...
Jesus would begin His ministry after His wilderness experience...And the people finally reaching the Promised Land would finally settle down after forty years and build houses and start planting and building communities...Jesus' wilderness experience lasted forty days...The Hebrew people's wilderness experience lasted forty years (quite a long time)...After the wilderness experience, it was a new starting place for those involved...
I wander if God gives each of us a wilderness experience in our lives, a learning experience where we learn there is more to the material and earthly world...The wilderness is a place where you walk with God and you get to know Him better...A place where one better gets to know His Word...And this wilderness through which we must pass includes temptations, trials, doubts, and troubles...Our wilderness may include pain and suffering...This doubt and dismay and worries of our own wilderness experience might cause us to lose the faith...It might cause us to question God and His Presence or it might weaken our faith...I believe Job went through a wilderness experience with the losses and his bad health that the evil one placed upon him...
In these wilderness experiences we must survive, and endure...Persistence is important...It takes faith to survive the wilderness...After the wilderness look for something new...And God has a purpose for the wilderness...